Matthew B. Lowrie
Mathew B. Lowrie, served as the Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1830 to 1831. Lowrie was born in Edinburgh, from where he emigrated with his parents the U. S. state of to Pennsylvania. As a young man he started a thriving grocery business. Lowrie was active in religion, serving many years as a Sunday school teacher at the First Presbyterian Church, his brother, Walter Lowrie, served in the United States Senate, his son, Walter H. Lowrie, went on to become Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mathew Lowrie is credited with "modernizing" the fire department; the city bought its first steam powered fire engine and named it the "citizen". Lowrie was instrumental in managing the city's rapid growth by adopting the "ward" system of governance for the first time in western Pennsylvania. Lowrie died in 1850 after a bout with cholera, he is buried in Allegheny Cemetery and the site is marked by an obelisk
George W. Guthrie
George Wilkins Guthrie, served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1906 to 1909 and was United States Ambassador to Japan from 1913 to 1917. George Wilkins Guthrie was born in Pittsburgh on September 5, 1848 to John B. Guthrie and Catherine Murray Guthrie. Guthrie attended public school in Pittsburgh the Western University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1866. Next, he studied law at the Columbian College for three years, at which point he was admitted to the bar, he became an attorney and started an involvement in reform issues during an era of increasing government corruption and largess. On December 2, 1886, he married Florence Julia Howe Guthrie, daughter of General Thomas Marshall Howe of Pittsburgh. Guthrie, a Democrat, was defeated narrowly by Henry P. Ford. Guthrie was elected mayor in 1906 and started instituting city policies to stem local corruption, while working locally he pushed for statewide reforms. Guthrie is best remembered for two accomplishments. First, for the success of the legislation he and D.
T. Watson, the famous corporate lawyer, created which led to the merger between Pittsburgh and Allegheny City in 1906; this consolidation controversial and unpopular among Allegheny residents withstood challenges in the Pennsylvania and United States Supreme Courts, made the new Greater Pittsburgh the sixth largest city in the United States. Second, the implementation of a water filtration system during Guthrie's term reduced the incidence of typhoid in Pittsburgh; the first filtered water, cleaned in a slow sand filter, was delivered on December 18, 1907, by October 3, 1908, the entire water supply of Pittsburgh was being filtered. Guthrie's term was noted for a significant decline in the city's death rate due to improvement in public health; the rate had been among the highest in America's northern cities, around 20 per 1,000 inhabitants, a level at which it had been stuck for 20 years. By the end of his term, the rate had fallen to 16 per 1,000, the lowest in Pittsburgh's history to that point.
Notable declines were seen in incidences of typhoid fever. After leaving office, Guthrie was appointed United States Ambassador to Japan on May 20, 1913, he was accredited as special Ambassador and represented the President and the people of the United States at the funeral of Empress Shōken, the Dowager Empress of Japan, on April 7, 1914, was the personal representative of President Wilson at the coronation of Emperor Taishō of Japan on September 30, 1915. He died while at that post in Tokyo in 1917, after collapsing while playing golf with an American reporter; the Japanese government sent the armored cruiser Azuma to return his body to San Francisco as a mark of respect. He was Vice President and Trustee of the Dollar Savings Bank of Pittsburgh, a Trustee of the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the Board of Managers of St. Margaret's Memorial Hospital and the Kingsley House Association, a member of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, the Pittsburgh and Duquesne Golf Clubs, he was internationally known for his activities in Masonic bodies and served as Past Grand Master of Pennsylvania Masons.
He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville, PA. Guthrie Street in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Regent Square was constructed in 1910 and named in the Mayor's honor
John Herron (Pittsburgh)
John Herron, served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1849 to 1850. He was the son of the well-known Presbyterian Minister; the Herrons were among the founding families of Pittsburgh. He captained the Duquesne Grays in the Mexican War during the Siege of Veracruz, his war feats enhanced his electability and President Zachary Taylor visited the city during Mayor Herron's term. List of Mayors of Pittsburgh South Pittsburgh Development Corporation Political Graveyard
Robert W. Lyon
Robert W. Lyon was Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1881 to 1884. Mayor Lyon was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania north of Pittsburgh in 1842, he joined the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War. When he came home from war Lyon made a small fortune in the petroleum industry. Mayor Lyon won election in 1881 and was best known as "the working man's mayor." He guided city hall into the completion of the Smithfield Street Bridge and the successful annexation of the Garfield neighborhood. The AFL, forerunner to the AFL-CIO, was founded in Pittsburgh under his administration. In 1884, he went to work in a steel mill and worked in county government until his death in 1904, he was buried in Calvary Cemetery in the west suburb of McKees Rocks. List of mayors of Pittsburgh
Andrew Fulton (mayor)
Andrew Fulton was Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1884 to 1887. The son of Samuel Magee and Agnes Rebecca Fulton, he was born in 1850 into a foundry family, he was outgoing and affable and preferred the less formal "Andy Fulton", this charismatic charm as well as his tall stature served him well in a career of politics. In 1879, Fulton was elected to the City Council followed soon by his election to the mayor's office in 1887. Mayor Fulton oversaw the completion of the Western Penitentiary during his term. After leaving office he continued to stay active in Pittsburgh politics working on both the city and county levels, with the exception of an absence to Colorado to raise horses for a number of years, he died in 1925 of pneumonia.
James Blackmore
James Blackmore was an American politician. He served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1868 to 1869 and 1872 to 1875. Blackmore was born in 1821 in Pennsylvania, his father was County Treasurer in 1855, young Blackmore served as Chief Clerk. Mayor Blackmore was engaged in the coal business; the city expanded east and George Westinghouse began manufacture of the air brake in the Strip District during Mayor Blackmore's initial term. A new City Hall was completed on Smithfield Street and the city's southern boundaries were extended during Mayor Blackmore's second term. James Blackmore's last address was 167 Wylie Avenue, his only child was called his name sake, James Blackmore Jr, it was unknown what he did for a living. He died February 6, 1875, less than a week after finishing his term, is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, his only known living relative lives in the United Kingdom and is a direct descendent of James Blackmore Sr List of mayors of Pittsburgh James Blackmore at Political Graveyard Norman J. Meinert's list of plots in Allegheny Cemetery
Magnus Miller Murray
Magnus Miller Murray, served as the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1828 to 1830 and again from 1831 to 1832. Mayor Murray now rests in Section Lot 29 of Allegheny Cemetery. Murray was born to Commodore Alexander Murray and Mary Miller Murray, he was named after Magnus Miller, a local merchant. He attended Pennsylvania University, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in an era when many statesmen had only a grade school education. On January 6, 1806 he was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, he married Mary Wilkens, daughter of John Wilkins, Jr. and Catherine Reagan Murray, on February 23, 1810. Murray began politics as an understudy to his uncle, area judge and political insider William Wilkins. Under Murray's mayoral administration, the Western Terminus of the Pennsylvania Canal was completed along the Grant Street corridor of the city. Murray was the first of a handful of Pittsburgh mayors to serve two non-consecutive terms in office, having to cede control of the mayor's office to Matthew B.
Lowrie from 1830 to 1831, before regaining his mayoral powers. Mayor Magnus Murray's son, James Butler Murray, President of the First Exchange Bank of Pittsburgh is remembered in the naming of Murray Avenue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Member of The Society of the Cincinnati as the oldest male heir of Commodore Alexander Murray. Murray is an ancestor of actress Julie Bowen. Killikelly, S.. The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress. Pittsburgh: B. C. & Gordon Montgomery Co. Martin, J.. Martin's Bench and Bar of Philadelphia, Philadelphia: R. Welsh & co
